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Slow Cooker Black-Eyed Pea Soup (with Ham and Chicken)

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This gluten-free, dairy-free Slow Cooker Black-Eyed Pea Soup with Ham and Chicken recipe is one that I adapted from a slow cooker recipe of one of my favorite gluten-free bloggers who also happens to be one of my very favorite people. That would be Stephanie of A Year of Slow Cooking.

Slow Cooker Black-Eyed Pea Soup with Ham and Chicken. So flavorful and filling! [from GlutenFreeEasily.com]

For a year, Stephanie literally cranked out crockpot recipes day after day—without fail. Now she stays busy with so many other things including two other blogs (that makes three in total), a new baby (that makes three children), a hubby, and so much more. However, she still gives us, her loyal readers, enough recipes on her slow cooking blog to keep us happy.

All of her recipes are gluten free, but I love that so many of them are naturally gluten free. That’s a large part of the gfe approach. For one thing, it just makes life easier not to have to remember to order a case of gluten-free X or to have to run out to get gluten-free Y, particularly since there are no gluten-free specialty items in my grocery store.

So, in my opinion, cooking with real food just makes sense for convenience. That may seem contradictory to many, but it’s true. But let’s get to my latest favorite recipe of Stephanie’s.

Stephanie posted a Black-Eyed Pea Soup recipe  for New Year’s Day. I have loved black-eyed peas long before they were the name of a hip musical group.

Give me some black-eyed peas and I’ve got a wonderful meal. So, this recipe has been in the back of my mind ever since Stephanie shared it.

With a support group meeting coming up, I wanted a dish that would serve many, but I wanted to use mostly what I had on hand. Stephanie’s recipe calls for spiced sausage, but I didn’t have any.

My mom and my sister always save the ham bones from holiday meals for me so I can use them to make soup from scratch. Sometime that’s potato soup, but more often than not, it’s a soup that combines veggies and other meat, like chicken or turkey (or sometimes small amounts of several meats, like in my Everything Soup).

My sister had given me a nice big ham bone, with a decent amount of meat left on it. The freezer yield two chicken carcasses. I also had a big bag of carrots and package of celery in the refrigerator just waiting for some action.

I added a few inches of water to my big stockpot and brought it to a boil and then added my frozen chicken carcasses. I let them simmer for a while as I did other things in the kitchen.

Occasionally, I’d stir them, and finally I turned the burner off and left the lid on a while. Once I was sure the meat was ready to be picked off the bone, I put a colander inside another stockpot and poured the whole pot through the colander. My lovely broth was in the pot and the chicken—bones and all—remained in the colander.

Once that cooled a few minutes, I picked the chicken off the bone and set it aside. This is really a great way to get the most from a chicken and not have waste.

Even if I buy a rotisserie chicken at the store, I know we will eat a few meals from the chicken before I freeze it and it eventually gets turned into great broth and other meals. So even at a price of $6.99 for a rotisserie chicken (be sure it’s truly gluten free), I can end up with several meals and at least a quart of chicken broth. That sounds like a bargain when you look at it that way.

So imagine what a savings, roasting your own chicken could be. I often make broth from my chicken carcasses; then I use the “found” chicken for soup or other favorites like chicken pot pie and chicken and rice casserole. However, feel free to use safe packaged gluten-free chicken broth and chicken from cooked chicken breasts, etc. for this recipe.

Before we get to the recipe, I have two cooking confessions. Confession #1—This is the very first time I’ve ever soaked black-eyed peas.

I’ve always used canned black-eyed peas before, although one has to be careful to find good ones. (Some canned black-eyed peas are very mushy and come in a thick unappetizing broth. Other brands contain just black-eyed peas in salted water and taste pretty good.)

These dried black-eyed peas are far better than any of the canned varieties and almost seem dainty in comparison, even after soaking. As Alta added in comments, fresh black-eyed peas are the very best when you can get those. She said that frozen black-eyed peas come in a close second.

As both Alta and Stephanie said, black-eyed peas offer a wonderful, earthy flavor. I’ll definitely be using more dried black-eyed peas.

I’ve never even seen frozen black-eyed peas before, but I’ll look for those, too. One benefit of using dried black-eyed peas is that like other dried beans, they are very inexpensive.

Confession #2—I’ve never used an immersion or “stick” blender before. I’ve had one stashed in a cabinet for years. Son had received one as a gift for dorm life for making milkshakes and such. That involved what he considered to be work, so he left it behind for me to use instead.

When Stephanie’s recipe called for this type of blender, I pulled it out and was delighted at how well it worked. I’ll be using that blender a lot more for soups, sauces, etc.

Several readers commented on Stephanie’s post that they didn’t even like black-eyed peas, but loved this soup. So, if you’re not a black-eyed pea lover, you still might want to give this soup a try.

Several of my members commented on how much they enjoyed this soup the other night. I heard the words “comforting” and “homey.” On a cold evening with alternating rain drops and snow flakes, this soup was indeed very welcome.

Even those who didn’t comment must have enjoyed it, because there was little left from the full slow cooker. I served this soup with mini-corn muffins and that made for a great combination.

Because soup always thickens in the refrigerator overnight, I added some leftover chicken broth to make my mug of soup for lunch yesterday. For dinner with these leftovers though, I’ll just reheat the thickened soup and serve it over some mashed potatoes. This thickened Slow Cooker Black-Eyed Pea Soup would also be great over rice over or noodles.

Slow Cooker Black-Eyed Pea Soup with Ham and Chicken. So flavorful and filling! [from GlutenFreeEasily.com]

Slow Cooker Black-Eyed Pea Soup (with Ham and Chicken) Recipe

Black-Eyed Pea Soup with Ham and Chicken Gluten Free Easily
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Slow Cooker Black-Eyed Pea Soup (with Ham and Chicken)

Ingredients

  • 1 pound dried black-eyed peas (I don’t recommend using canned as a substitution, but fresh or frozen would work well)
  • 1 ham bone (ideally, with some meat remaining on it)
  • 2 cups, cut-up chicken
  • 2 diced onions
  • 2 cups diced or sliced carrots (I prefer slices, but I halve the larger slices)
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 6 cloves garlic (I used 3 tbsp minced garlic)
  • 6 – 8 cups of chicken broth (I used my homemade broth and just kept adding until my crockpot was almost full)
  • 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 tsp coarse sea salt (any salt will work though)

Instructions

  1. Soak your beans overnight. Drain and pick out the undesirables (e.g., discolored beans) in the morning.
  2. Use a 5- to 6- quart crockpot. (I used my 6-quart oval programmable crockpot.) This recipe will serve a lot. It served at least a dozen folks at my support group meeting. (We had about 25 folks, but not all ate soup. Those who did enjoyed at least one full mug.)
  3. Dice the veggies, and add them to the crockpot with the black-eyed peas that have been soaked and drained.
  4. Pour in broth, and stir in Italian seasoning and salt.
  5. Add ham bone. You can also add the chicken at this point, or save it until closer to the end of cooking time. As your chicken is already cooked, it’s your preference on when you want to add it. I did add mine at the beginning and the soup was great, but adding it at the end would have also worked and kept the chicken in nice little chunks.
  6. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for about 6. About a half hour to an hour before serving, use an immersible blender to smash up about 1 cup of beans. If you don't have an immersible blender, scoop out 1 cup of beans, blend them in a traditional blender (be very careful as hot liquids tend to "explode" when blended), and add back to the soup. You will really only need to blend for a few seconds.
  7. Stir after blending. The soup will thicken and have the most wonderful color.

Notes

This recipe was adapted from Stephanie O’Dea's Black-Eyed Pea Soup over at A Year of Slow Cooking. If you'd like fewer servings or would like to use a smaller crockpot, don’t just halve this recipe. You’ll want the same amount of black-eyed peas, 2 cups of meat, 4 cups of broth, and about the same amount of seasonings. Be sure to take a look at Stephanie’s recipe, too, which serves 8.

Stephanie suggests adding Tabasco sauce to taste after you’ve ladled your soup into your bowl. We enjoyed it without, but if you like to add a little zip to your soup, that might be an option for you.

Any time, we want a little taste of hot at our house, we tend to add some Texas Pete hot sauce (bit of trivia--many of the peppers used in Texas Pete are grown locally) or Sriracha sauce.

Courses Soup, Main Dish

Originally posted March 4, 2010; updated October 2, 2018.

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Comments

  1. I am a huge fan of blackeyed peas (and any bean plus ham combo, truly), but I didn’t love them until I discovered fresh blackeyed peas. Fresh is a million times better than canned or dried! Frozen is a close second though – you should try frozen sometime. They cook up within an hour, which is great. They also retain all of that earthiness that I love.
    So glad you’re on board with the immersion blender! It’s one of my favorite tools in the kitchen – no more pouring in batches in the blender. It is a wonderful tool to whisk together salad dressings too.
    Definitely going to have to make one last pot of soup like this before it warms up. Looks amazing.

    Reply

    • Oh, Alta, I agree about fresh black-eyed peas! I adore them … so delicious. I just don’t often get them. Now frozen … I don’t know if my basic grocery store even has frozen ones, but I’ll look and I can certainly pick them up at the upscale grocery in town. 🙂 Thanks so much for mentioning them!

      I feel so silly about the immersion blender. But, I love that I’m still discovering new things about cooking and new tools in the kitchen. Life never has to be dull at all!

      Thanks again for adopting me for the Adopt-A-Gluten-Free Blogger event! Your words really humbled me. I’m so grateful.

      Shirley

      Reply

  3. oh Shirley, you made my morning!
    I wish I lived close enough to attend your support group—it sounds absolutely wonderful, and your friends delightful.

    The soup looks marvelous.

    xxo steph

    Reply

    • Hey Stephanie– 🙂 Oh, wouldn’t that be fun if we lived nearby?! You would love my group and friends. We have such a great time together and the food rocks. 😉

      So glad I was able to make a worthy variation of your soup. It’s my new favorite!

      Hugsss,

      Shirley

      Reply

  4. We’re not big fans of beans, and I’ve never had black eyed pea soup. It does look good, though. Maybe, I’ll give it a try. Shirley, I really love it when you do “What else is happening.” I have trouble keeping up with what is happening where and when. Thank you for putting it all together in one place for me.

    Reply

    • Hi Linda–Honestly, I really don’t consider black-eyed peas to be beans. I think of them as peas, and they seem too delicate to be called beans. In the end I don’t care what you call them, they are just good. 😉

      I so appreciate the feedback about What else is happening? Otherwise, I’d think I was just rambling on like usual … not being able to gracefully close out a post. LOL There is so much wonderful stuff going on, I like sharing it and then it’s in one spot for my reference, too. 🙂

      Happy Friday, Linda!

      Shirley

      Reply

  5. I have been thinking about what to make with black eyed peas…this looks perfect. I adore bean soups for so many reasons, but especially for their ease of preparation and simplicity.

    Thanks for all the latest gluten-free happenings, Shirley!!

    Reply

    • Hi Amy–You’re a doll to take time from your jam-packed schedule to make a comment! 🙂 I hope you love this soup as much as I do. And, I’m so glad you, too, enjoy the gf happenings!

      Good luck on those latest exams!

      Shirley

      Reply

  6. Love your blog!! This black-eyed pea soup will be made soon. My mouth is watering already. Looks so yummy. I’m a Southern girl and do love my black-eyed peas.

    I just went gluten-free permanently. (I hope!. I should have years ago, but was stubborn, and love to bake bread. I still bake regular bread for my husband, but am now learning the gluten-free thing.

    I’m going to link to your blog on mine. For sure I’ll want to check frequently to see what you’re up to.

    Thanks, (o:Ginny

    Reply

    • Hi Ginny–Welcome to gfe! I’m Shirley, not Amy, but perhaps you were just visiting one of my friends and favorite bloggers, Amy Green, over at Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free. 😉 However, you got here, I’m glad to see you! LOL Yes, Southern girls do love black-eye peas (in general). They are delicious, although today I’m “cheating” on them and going for kidney beans and black beans in my chili. 😉

      Congrats on going gluten free permanently! That’s the way to go. You can learn to make great bread gluten free. Even your hubby will love it, and then you’ll have less chance of cross contamination. Flour stays airborne up to 48 hours. Folks are raving over the cookbook, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day, for its gluten-free chapter. Might be worth checking out so you can make bread you both can enjoy.

      I’ll check out your blog. Thanks for the link! I appreciate it. You can also subscribe via email or a reader at the right of my header. That way you don’t miss anything either. 🙂

      Look forward to seeing you here more, Ginny! Best,
      Shirley

      Reply

    • Hi Jenn–Thanks so much for stopping by! I really appreciate your kind words. I think you’d love black-eyed peas. I’m assuming you can get them. I know you’ve mentioned not being able to get certain items. If you find some, I’ll look forward to your experimenting with them. 🙂

      Shirley

      Reply

  8. Thanks for mentioning the Giveaway. I want some of our GF people to have an equal opportunity to win, even though, it is not in my GF blog. It is over on the tenth.

    Reply

  9. Oh this looks perfect for one of those snowed in days where you just sit at home and visit with a hot mug of soup, one of your lovely corn muffins and visit bedside the fireplace. This is what dreams are made of!

    Reply

  10. Hey Shirley, I’m behind on my reading 🙂
    Just wanted to chime in that the soup was delicious at your meeting. I’ll definitely be making that at our house sometime!
    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Thanks so much, Jennifer! I’m quite a fan of this soup. Hoping I’ll get a ham bone from mom at Easter so I can make it again. 😉 Hope all your family will enjoy it when you get to make it!

      Shirley

      Reply

  11. So Scott’s family has been trying to get me to eat black eyed peas since we were dating eons ago. I might be persuaded with this recipe but don’t let them know. It would ruin years of hard work. Thank you for sharing this on Friday Foodie Fix.

    Reply

    • LOL, Diane, these black-eyed peas in this soup are so delicious. They probably don’t tast at all like you expect. I won’t let anyone in on your secret if you decide you like them. 😉

      Shirley

      Reply

  12. This is the second recipe I have made off your blog in 2 weeks and this is another keeper! I made it exactly as above but my chicken stock was a homemade spicy chicken stock. This had amazing flavor. Our dinner table was quiet with this wonderful soup being eaten as fast as possible. I love your site, they are just down home, good recipe’s with readily available ingredients!

    Reply

    • Hi Kristin–What a wonderful comment–thank you so very much! Homemade spicy chicken stock sounds just perfect as the base for this soup. Will try that myself … maybe even for tomorrow’s dinner as I have some homemade salsa (added to my basic chicken stock, that would equal spicy, right?), a hambone and turkey in the freezer, and some black-eyed peas in the pantry. 🙂 I’m truly so glad that you are finding gfe so helpful. I’m committed to showing folks that good gluten-free recipes are easy to make with those readily available ingredients. Nothing weird at all about these recipes, huh? 😉

      Hugs,
      Shirley

      Reply

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